**spoiler alert** In this novel the Andalites come to Earth, but it’s not at all what the Animorphs anticipated. It’s not the Andalite fleet arriving**spoiler alert** In this novel the Andalites come to Earth, but it’s not at all what the Animorphs anticipated. It’s not the Andalite fleet arriving to save the day, but a ragtag bunch of criminals sent on a suicide mission to commit genocide against the Yeerks. Basically, the Andalites have engineered a virus not unlike the one used on the Hork Bajir homeworld, which may not only destroy the entire Yeerk race, but take more than a few humans with it.

The Animorphs understandably can’t let this happen, so they outwit the Andalite group and save the day. They con the Andalites into thinking that the Animorphs have disbanded, and Ax heads off to be with his own species. Ax learns the truth of what they’re up to and reunites with the Animorphs to foil their plan and kick their arses. The problematic Andalites are gone and the Animorphs are heading the resistance once again.

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In spite of one of the main themes of this book being genocide, it really is a cute little tale. It’s all about teamwork, learning from your mistakes, right and wrong, and Ax developing a crush on a female Andalite. :3 While the arrival of the Andalites threatened to shake the foundations of the Animorphs resistance, they came together and are now stronger than ever.

I was incredibly frustrated that this didn’t turn out to be the actual Andalite fleet, but I’m glad we finally got some damn answers as to why they haven’t hauled ass to Earth yet - they’re fighting another war in another galaxy! It makes me wonder how many damn wars are going on, between whom, and why the Andalites always have to be the ones to broker the peace. Unless a species is viral like the Yeerks and they won’t be content until they’ve subjugated the entire universe, it might be more appropriate to just let them battle it out. Let the fire burn itself out, as it were.

I was also incredibly frustrated that Visser Three still.is.not.dead.yet. Sure, he’s a sneaky bastard with a host of crazy morphs up his sleeve, but give it a rest already. It seems like the Animorphs never get close enough to kill him, and when they do, they waver about whether it’s the right thing to do. Y’all, if Marco can see how sacrificing his mother would work for the greater good, you can suck it up and grant Alloran some final freedom. ...more

**spoiler alert** While Jake is away, Rachel will play…..and nearly fucking destroy the resistance in the process.

Jake is away, so Rachel is voted in**spoiler alert** While Jake is away, Rachel will play…..and nearly fucking destroy the resistance in the process.

Jake is away, so Rachel is voted in as interim head of the Animorphs. We know that she’s headstrong and wants everything done now, but the Animorphs don’t anticipate that her leadership will bring about such a large change. Rachel has the Animorphs attacking Controllers in broad daylight to discredit Visser Three. They’re tearing up television studios, kiosks at the mall, and running down city streets.

In the process Cassie is captured by Yeerks, and lands in serious danger of becoming a polar bear nothlit if Rachel doesn’t get her shit together. It’s up to Rachel to steal a plane (?!) and sneak into the Yeerk pool to undo the mess she created. The Visser pits the “Andalite bandits” against an Inspector creature - a Gamaratron who has been sent by the Council of Thirteen to determine why the Visser is having such a hard time defeating the Andalites and taking Earth.

It looks bleak when the super speedy Gamaratron gains the upper hand, but thanks to some quick thinking and a handy cobra morph, Marco is able to bring him down and they all escape.

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UGH I CAN’T STAND RACHEL. Seeing her lead is so infuriating, I wanted to hurl my Kindle across the room or slam my head against the wall until it bled. She’s all the stereotypes of female characters that I don’t like: modelesque airhead who is obsessed with shopping mixed with unbridled PMS rage. I was so effing glad to see her knocked down a peg and put in her place, and I couldn’t wait for Jake to come back. The Gamaratrons were cool, but I had trouble seeing past the Rachel stupidity. ...more

**spoiler alert** In this story, the Yeerks have been experimenting with making the Hork Bajir amphibious so that they can retrieve the lost Pemalite**spoiler alert** In this story, the Yeerks have been experimenting with making the Hork Bajir amphibious so that they can retrieve the lost Pemalite ship. They’ve failed (and perpetrated some utterly horrific acts of cruelty) but managed to create an amphibious Blade Ship in the process: the Sea Blade.

While tailing the Yeerks in the deep blue sea, the Animorphs discover a lost civilisation of amphibious humans who have been recovering lost shipwrecks over the years. This isn’t Atlantis and they aren’t as cute and friendly as they sound - they’ve actually been mummifying survivors while they’re still alive, all for their creepy ghost ship graveyard!

And they’re not stopping there - they’re intent on taking the Sea Blade to wage war against the surface and propagate the near-extinct Nartec species! The Animorphs do the unthinkable and make a deal with Visser Three to stop this from happening. They hope that the Visser will die in the ensuing fight, but naturally he lives to torment them another day. The Animorphs make a pact that once the Yeerk invasion is over, they’ll head back down to Nartec HQ and bury all the poor victims.

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This story was weird as hell, but I totally loved it! It was farfetched and ridiculous, and it totally worked. I needed a campy story to break up the dark and depressing tales littered throughout this series. Sometimes you don’t want a kid’s book that presents terrifying questions about humanity, sometimes you just want a ridiculous adventure at the bottom of the sea. I can’t wait to see the Animorphs head back to Nartec HQ for another showdown! ...more

**spoiler alert** The Visser Chronicles focuses on the elusive Visser One, as she stands trial for high treason in the invasion of Earth. Visser Three**spoiler alert** The Visser Chronicles focuses on the elusive Visser One, as she stands trial for high treason in the invasion of Earth. Visser Three has convinced the Yeerk “Council of Thirteen” that Visser One committed treason when initially taking the planet, and that she’s been a sympathizer with the humans all along.

We find out the truth behind the Visser’s infestation of Marco’s mother and her subsequent disappearance. We learn that she initially came to Earth seeking a class 5 species to infest: that is, a technologically advanced, sentient species that would not resist infestation like the Andalites had. In the process, she fell in love with a subordinate and they conceived human children together.

Visser Three attempts to further discredit Visser One in front of the Council by staging an attack by the Animorphs where he easily disposes of the “Andalite bandits”. Thankfully Visser One is able to get to Earth and strike a deal with Marco, where the real Andalite bandits put in an appearance and discredit Visser Three’s stageshow.

Both Vissers are ultimately sentenced to death but have their sentences suspended.

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I absolutely adored this story. I’d been thinking that there was more to the Visser’s story, that Marco’s mother had obviously been infested before she took off on that fateful boat trip, and it was true. I just didn’t expect that she’d have such a lengthy backstory! It broke my heart that she’d fallen in love with her subordinate but that they couldn’t be together, and that he had sacrificed himself. It broke my heart that she fell in love with her subordinate, just as their hosts had fallen in love with each other. It broke my heart that his host body remembered everything after being freed, and was relegated to living life on the streets, being perceived as mentally ill for talking about what he knew. And it broke my heart that they had children and weren’t able to raise them together. I really hope the Visser can live a normal life after the Yeerk invasion with her children. :(

I want to find out more about the Council of Thirteen. It fascinates me that the Yeerks are so mutinous that they can’t risk publicising the identity of their own Emperor, because that would leave them open to assassination, and so only select members of the Council of Thirteen know who amongst them is actually leading the charge! It sounds like such a Taxxon way of thinking, and it’s terrifying. ...more

**spoiler alert** This was weird. Even by Animorphs standards. Basically, Marco is losing control of his morphing ability because he's subconsciously**spoiler alert** This was weird. Even by Animorphs standards. Basically, Marco is losing control of his morphing ability because he's subconsciously really freaked out by the prospect of his dad dating again. Marco botches several of his morphs, and for some reason the trick to saving the day is to have Marco morph an obnoxious poodle in the middle of a television station...

**spoiler alert** This book follows on from the events of the Hork Bajir Chronicles, where we had learned how the Hork Bajir were created and eventual**spoiler alert** This book follows on from the events of the Hork Bajir Chronicles, where we had learned how the Hork Bajir were created and eventually subjugated on their home world.

Aldrea, the Andalite who elected to become a Hork Bajir nothlit with her lover, had her essence bottled up after death. Many years later, an Arn travels to earth with the vial and a proposal to resurrect the Hork Bajir species and take back the homeworld. The Animorphs agree to let Aldrea’s spirit out of the vial and into a human host to learn what she knows about the Yeerk battle and the state of her homeworld. Aldrea chooses Cassie’s bod, and struggles with wanting to live again, and wanting to be with her beloved in the afterlife.

The Animorphs help the Arn return to the Hork Bajir homeworld to dig up an old weapons cache and destroy a few Yeerks in the process. They escape unharmed and return back to Earth, where Aldrea accepts that she must die and leave Cassie t olive her life. She returns to the vial like a genie to a bottle.

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While this book didn’t accomplish much in terms of the overall storyline or mythology of the series, it was a beautiful story that really tugged at the heartstrings. I remember sobbing my eyes out whilst reading the Hork Bajir Chronicles so I was ecstatic to see Aldrea return in this book. It was also upsetting to read the struggle between Aldrea and Cassie; Aldrea struggling to come to terms with not only her own death, but that of her partner, and wanting to live on to help change the course of the war. Cassie understanding Aldrea’s pain, but obviously not wanting to sacrifice her own life and happiness to extend that of someone else’s. Part of me wants Aldrea to be able to come back in another body at some point, and part of me would be too upset that she’d have to live without her love. :( ...more

**spoiler alert** This is by far the darkest issue in the Animorphs series yet. The fact that it centres around Tobias kind of tells you everything, r**spoiler alert** This is by far the darkest issue in the Animorphs series yet. The fact that it centres around Tobias kind of tells you everything, really.

Tobias is still struggling with his identity as both a bird and a boy, when he volunteers to be the bait in a Yeerk trap. The Animorphs need to make the Yeerks think they’ve caught an Andalite, and as Tobias can easily morph and demorph from Andalite without revealing that the bandits are a bunch of kids, he’s the natural choice. Unfortunately it doesn’t go too smoothly for Tobias - he’s repeatedly tortured by a pretty blonde Controller to the brink of death, until the Animorphs come in and save the day.

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Sometimes I struggle with the idea that these were books written for kids. Sure, there are sad moments in every Disney movie and that helps kids learn about death and conflict, but this was pushing it a bit for me. I was horrified and upset, seeing into his psyche as he was tortured almost to the point of insanity. Even though this is clearly a fictional series, it was a horrible reminder of some of the things that humanity is capable of. I’m happy to go back to farfetched tales about time travel to the Jurassic period. :( ...more

**spoiler alert** In this story, Rachel learns another valuable lesson about morphing: don’t morph a starfish and then proceed to get yourself cut in**spoiler alert** In this story, Rachel learns another valuable lesson about morphing: don’t morph a starfish and then proceed to get yourself cut in half, because then shit will go down.

Whilst on a school trip Rachel morphs a starfish, and is unwittingly cut in half by a small child at the rockpools. She demorphs into two versions of Rachel: evil Rachel and good Rachel. Evil Rachel is short-term focused with a serious lust for blood, and good Rachel is a sappy airhead who is good at planning but cries at the drop of a hat.

The Animorphs are trying to locate and dismantle an anti-morphing ray that the Yeerks have built, but both Rachels keep bungling their plans. Eventually both Rachels realise that neither can exist without the other (as much as they don’t want to admit it), and so they agree to acquire and morph one another, forming one whole Rachel.

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This book was fucking infuriating to read. I’ve always been irritated by Rachel’s bloodlust and headstrong personality, and this book took it to the extreme. Her stereotypical shopaholic teen girl side was infuriatingly dumb and embarrassing to witness as a female reader, while her angry side was reminiscent of a woman on the worst bout of PMS in human history. I almost put this book down and refused to pick it up again because it was so bloody irritating. I wanted to hurl my Kindle across the room. ...more

This story centres around Jake, where the whole my-brother-is-a-Controller thing finally poses more of a problem than an eavesdropper on the home teleThis story centres around Jake, where the whole my-brother-is-a-Controller thing finally poses more of a problem than an eavesdropper on the home telephone line.

Jake’s grandfather passes away and they organise to travel for his funeral. This is a problem for Controller Tom, who can’t be away from a Kandrona pool for more than three days,or the Yeerk in his head will suffer a slow and painful death by starvation. As such, Jake overhears Tom arranging for their father to be made into a Controller too. When Tom doesn’t get his way he actually arranges for the murder of his father in his own front yard! Thankfully Jake thwarts his plan yet again, and they head for their late grandfather’s lakehouse. Tom makes a move to murder his father in the middle of the night, but thankfully the Animorphs have Jake’s back and manage to cut the trip off early.

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I’m surprised it’s taken this long for Tom’s Controller status to pose a real threat! Every Jake-centric novel opens with “my brother is a Controller” in not so many words, but until now it hasn’t posed a threat to the Animorphs beyond ensuring they speak in code when using the home phone. While I wasn’t plodding on from book to book actively wondering “Hey, when is something gonna go down with Tom?”, when I began this novel it shocked me that we’d gone 30 books without any real repercussions.

That being said, they couldn’t have tackled it in a more fun and crazy way. I knew Tom would be desperate to avoid the trip, but to actually arrange for the murder of your host’s father to delay the trip?! It effectively showed the desperation of the Yeerk, and that there would be no reasoning with Tom’s Yeerk if the situation ever arose.

The foiling of the lakehouse murder plot was a bit confusing to me though….I don’t really understand what happened, all of a sudden a giant Animorph was in the lake and the jetty exploded?! Maybe I was just distracted and not paying attention, but it made zero sense to me. ‘Twas a cute show of camaraderie from the Animorphs though!...more

**spoiler alert** This was so weird that I can barely even write a synopsis or review of it….

Much like In the Time of Dinosaurs this story involves ti**spoiler alert** This was so weird that I can barely even write a synopsis or review of it….

Much like In the Time of Dinosaurs this story involves time travel, but it’s a lot more difficult to follow. Basically Visser Four has got hold of the Time Matrix and is using it to, for lack of a better term, fuck shit up. The Animorphs follow him through each of the time jumps and attempt to wrestle the Time Matrix back, to stop Visser Four changing the course of human history forever. The mere presence of the Animorphs and Visser Four during crucial moments wreaks havoc on our timeline, changing the course of wars and eliminating the entire African American civil rights movement! It’s really inconsistent though - their intervention in certain scenes has massive repercussions later down the line, but other changes are barely noticeable. At any rate, the Animorphs invariably manage to save the day and go back to the original timeline where Cassie is not Jake’s slave.

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This was weird and difficult to follow and I didn’t like it. In the Time of Dinosaurs was a fantastic look at the time travel paradox and how the Animorphs couldn’t really do too much to change human history, because the timeline they were living in was unknowingly the result of them already having visited the dinosaurs once upon a time…...It was confusing, but I was totally okay with it! Elfangor’s Secret was just confusing in a dissatisfying way, and felt like the author had rushed all of the explanations, rather than it being a case of wibbly wobbly timey wimey confusion.

**spoiler alert** Yay for a kickass novel about Cassie! I’ve always loved how compassionate, loving and yet idealistic she is, and it was great to see**spoiler alert** Yay for a kickass novel about Cassie! I’ve always loved how compassionate, loving and yet idealistic she is, and it was great to see her shine in this story.

Ax and the Animorphs come down with a mysterious Andalite flu that renders them essentially useless for a few days. It’s fairly benign to the Animorphs, but if Cassie doesn’t seek medical attention soon, an enlarged gland in Ax’s brain will rupture and kill him. To save Ax, Cassie undertakes two huge missions on her own, including breaking into the Yeerk pool and saving the life of Altran - the peaceful Yeerk we’d met previously who sacrificed herself for the sake of humanity.

Cassie manages to save Altran, who has the key to conducting Andalite brain surgery and allows Cassie to save Ax’s life in the nick of time. All is well again, and we learn that there is a whole movement of peaceful Yeerks who want a revolution.

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This was such a wonderful story. Every now and then this series can get really dark, to the point where I wonder why it was even marketed at children, but then a story like this comes along. It was such an empowering story that presented Cassie as a strong young woman who any girl should hold as a role model. She holds it together when she should be losing her shit, and she’s resourceful, smart and compassionate as always. I really hope that Cassie can end up leading the Yeerk peace movement and gets all the credit she deserves at the end of the series. ...more

**spoiler alert** This book is from Ax’s perspective, so you know it’s going to be interesting!

The Animorphs discover that the Yeerks have purchased**spoiler alert** This book is from Ax’s perspective, so you know it’s going to be interesting!

The Animorphs discover that the Yeerks have purchased an animal testing facility and an abattoir, so naturally the Animorphs go to investigate. They break into the animal testing lab and break out the chimpanzee test experiments. They also break into the abattoir in cow morph and release human test experiments. Turns out that under Visser Three’s orders, the Yeerks had been experimenting on removing free will in humans. The Animorphs learn that no matter what happens, free will cannot be surgically or chemically removed from humans, beyond infesting them with a Yeerk.

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This novel was quite dark, presenting an interesting and terrifying question about animal sentience. Ax struggles with a moral quandary about acquiring the chimpanzees which absolutely broke my heart. The Andalites refuse to acquire sentient species without their permission, so this raised an ethical debate about acquiring a chimpanzee morph. Chimps are incredibly intelligent, and though that can’t speak human languages, are entirely self-aware and can feel pain. So can we label these creatures as non-sentient or non-self-aware and justify acquiring them? It was interesting to see the book present such a debate in the 1990s/2000s, when only in 2014 were dolphins and orangutans granted the status of “non-human persons”. :(

On a lighter note, we learn about Ax’s obsession with television programming and his special love for “these messages” (aka commercials). Oh Ax, never change. ...more

**spoiler alert** Told from Jake's perspective, in this story the Animorphs are sent on another adventure by the Ellimist. The Ellimist has one enemy**spoiler alert** Told from Jake's perspective, in this story the Animorphs are sent on another adventure by the Ellimist. The Ellimist has one enemy in the universe: the Crayak. This is the evil, all powerful being that Jake witnessed after being infested by a yeerk.

The Ellimist is at a stalemate with the Crayak, and needs the Animorphs to help decide the fate of the cosmic showdown. The Crayak has picked the Howlers, a race of incredibly deadly aliens that resemble lava blobs, and the Animorphs need to stop the Howlers from utterly destroying the Iskoort and their homeworld.

Naturally, after a series of ups and downs, the Animorphs prevail and manage to use Iskoort technology to thwart Crayak and the Howlers. Crayak withdraws, but we know it's not the last we'll see or hear of him.

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I loved this book! I love any book with the Ellimist in it, and this one was even better because we got to see two new alien species! The Iskoort were like adorable pushy alien salespeople, and reminded me of Watto from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, mixed with small monkeys. The Howlers reminded me of the aliens from Stephen King's Under the Dome in that they too ***SPOILERS FOR UNDER THE DOME*** were alien children doing the equivalent of burning ants under a magnifying glass, because it's all a game to them. ***END SPOILERS FOR UNDER THE DOME***

I hope we get to see more of Crayak and the Ellimist; the idea of a battle between two seemingly omnipotent and yet evenly matched cosmic beings is fascinating. ...more

**spoiler alert** Told from Marco’s perspective, The Extreme follows the Animorphs as they try to destroy a Kandrona satellite that would allow the Ye**spoiler alert** Told from Marco’s perspective, The Extreme follows the Animorphs as they try to destroy a Kandrona satellite that would allow the Yeerks to turn any body of water into a makeshift Yeerk pool. In doing so they wind up in the Arctic without any suitable cold weather morphs.

The Animorphs learn that the Yeerks have salvaged DNA from an extinct cold climate species called the “Venbers”. The Venbers melt into a puddle of goo when exposed to warm temperatures; something that a now-also-extinct race called “The Five” capitalised on. While it’s not clear what the goo was used for, The Five cruelly raised and slaughtered Venbers solely for the chemicals they emitted upon death. The Andalites extinguished The Five for the atrocities they committed, and then reformed their own battle policies so as never to become like The Five.

Aaaaanyway, the Yeerks have recovered Venber DNA, fused it with human DNA and made them programmable. The Venbers are responsible for constructing the satellite device and are also used to track down the Animorphs as they escape through the Arctic.

The Animorphs find help in an unlikely friend: an Inuit boy who assumes they’re animal spirits. The boy helps them acquire a polar bear’s DNA and find food. The scene is horrific to watch as the Animorphs use their morphs to assault the animal and subsequently acquire his DNA. This pales in comparison to a scene where the Animorphs are forced to feed on a mother seal to stay alive, though the seal had originally been killed (and described in gory detail) by said polar bear. Cassie doesn’t placate the Animorphs, confirming that the babies of the mother seal they killed will not survive.

In the end the Animorphs destroy the Kandrona device and two bug fighters, and witness the death of Venbers in the process. They’re horrified at the idea that these creatures were farmed only to die, and are repulsed by how the Yeerks have managed to genetically engineer and program them.

These shenanigans are all made possible by Erek and the Chee, who use holograms to keep up appearances back home.

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Books like this are why I don’t watch animated films anymore. I know that horrific atrocities go on in the world, I don’t need to learn about the unfairness of life in a bloody Disney movie. I understand that the author was probably trying to teach her young audience about the cruelty and necessity of Mother Nature, but I could have done without the gory description of the seal being killed as it was ripped through the ice, and her babies becoming Orca food as they waited for their mother to return.

Sure, I get upset reading about mistreatment of the fictional Hork Bajir and Venbers, but I don’t bawl my eyes for hour an hour like I did over the seals. The story obviously serves a purpose in teaching its young readers a lesson about nature, but I feel like I could’ve done with a trigger warning beforehand. ...more

**spoiler alert** Told from Cassie’s perspective, The Suspicion provides comic relief in a series bogged down by pain and stress.

In this book we lear**spoiler alert** Told from Cassie’s perspective, The Suspicion provides comic relief in a series bogged down by pain and stress.

In this book we learn that the Yeerks aren’t the only aliens invading the Earth, Earth is on its way to being subjugated by the Helmacrons: tiny insect-like aliens with egos the size of Mars. The Helmacrons are after the blue box, not for its morphing abilities but as a power source for their shrink ray and other technology.

After making fun of the Helmacrons’ size, Tobias, Cassie and Marco are shrunk by said ray. They inform the Helmacrons that the Yeerks beat them to Earth, and the Helmacrons vow to destroy the Yeerks. The Animorphs nearly team up with the Yeerks in a case of “the enemy of your enemy becomes your friend”, but save their own asses in the end. In a lame move the Animorphs don’t kill Visser Three while he’s the size of a pinky finger, instead forcing the Helmacrons to unshrink them all.

The Animorphs then divert the Helmacrons’ energies away from the Yeerks and humans by causing an uprising in their society. The Animorphs incite the male Helmacrons to rise up against their counterparts in a move that's sure to keep them busy for a while.

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The Helmacrons were hysterical! They’re walking tiny parodies of every alien film ever made, busting out the cheesiest “Surrender, Earthlings!” lines you can imagine. It was really great to see a ridiculous story thrown in the mix after emotional rollercoasters like the Hork Bajir and Andalite Chronicles. I can’t wait to see if they make a comeback with a dead male “captaining” their ship and females being subjugated.

I’m pissed that the Animorphs didn’t take the opportunity to kill Visser Three while they could, though I understand that they want to save the Andalite he’s inhabiting. Though I get the feeling that Prince Alloran would rather be dead than see the Visser continue to use his body as a meatsuit…...more

**spoiler alert** The Pretender is told from Tobias’ perspective, where he’s finding it increasingly difficult to balance his human and hawk identitie**spoiler alert** The Pretender is told from Tobias’ perspective, where he’s finding it increasingly difficult to balance his human and hawk identities. Another hawk is moving in on his territory, stealing his prey and making Tobias go hungry. Tobias is too ashamed to share his struggles with the Animorphs, who still haven’t accepted that he slaughters baby bunnies to survive.

Tobias receives a notice that his father’s last will and testament has been found and will be read on his next birthday. This coincides with the discovery of a long lost cousin who wants to adopt Tobias, having returned to the USA from a 10-year photojournalism project in Africa.

Unfortunately it all turns out to be a charade by the Yeerks, who hope to expose Tobias as one of the Animorphs. The long lost cousin is Visser Three in disguise, and they read Elfangor’s last will and testament in the hopes that Tobias will crack. Fortunately Tobias’ time spent as a hawk has hardened him, and he manages to fool the Visser and Controller into believing he knows nothing about aliens. Secretly, Tobias is dying on the inside over the discovery that he met his father that night in the construction site.

In the background, the Animorphs work to rescue a baby Hork Bajir that escaped from the valley and was put on display in a “freakshow”.

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I can’t decide which is more heartbreaking: Tobias’ hopes of adoption being shattered when he discovers his cousin is the Visser, or learning that he will never see his father Elfangor again. All the same, I’m shocked and stoked that the author had Tobias discover his true heritage so early on, I thought it would remain a secret until the war had been won.

I feel for Tobias as he struggles to reconcile his human and hawk identities. It’s upsetting that Rachel is pressuring him to become a human nothlit, but at the same time Tobias is being a bit thick. Why wouldn’t he take his friends’ suggestions and eat human food during his 2 hour morphing window as a human? Or why not hunt in the valley of the free Hork Bajir? Is the other hawk’s territory so large that he’d be overstepping his bounds there too? Or why not morph into an Andalite and eat grass like Ax?

As this book was an emotional journey for Tobias rather than a physical one, I don’t have a lot of other thoughts to share. Great story though! ...more

**spoiler alert** As the title might suggest, The Hork Bajir Chronicles tells the tale of how the Hork Bajir race was enslaved.

Disgraced over enablin**spoiler alert** As the title might suggest, The Hork Bajir Chronicles tells the tale of how the Hork Bajir race was enslaved.

Disgraced over enabling the Yeerks to enslave the Geeds, Seerow and his family are sent to investigate the Hork Bajir homeworld. The homeworld consists of 200ft tall trees hanging out of cliff faces, suspended over a valley shrouded in mysterious blue mist.

Seerow’s daughter Aldrea befriends Dak Hamee, an ancestor of Jara Hamee, a Hork Bajir that now lives free on Earth thanks to Tobias and the Ellimists. Not long after their arrival on the Hork Bajir homeworld the Yeerks invade and begin to enslave the native population. Dak and Aldrea narrowly escape into the mysterious blue vapour on the valley floor, and it’s here that they learn the truth about their planet.

The Hork Bajir world was originally lush and green like Earth, home to a sentient species called the “Arn”. The Arn predicted the collision of an asteroid with their world and sent their people into orbit in stasis, so they could repopulate the planet once the environment settled down. The Arn were extremely technologically advanced, and upon learning that the atmosphere was no longer breathable, genetically engineered the Hork Bajir species to cultivate plant life to make it breathable. They considered themselves above being “tree shepherds” and cut themselves off from the Hork Bajir, creating the blue vapour ceiling and genetically engineering “monsters” to deter any curious Hork Bajir from getting too close. Below the Arn settlement is the core of the planet, a valley of molten lava.

While Aldrea’s family die in the initial Yeerk invasion, she manages to call a small number of the Andalite fleet to help out, including Prince Alloran from The Andalite Chronicles. They find themselves quickly outnumbered and the Arn are of no assistance, so Alloran engineers a quantum virus designed to destroy Hork Bajir DNA. Dak and Aldrea fail to stop the virus from getting loose and Aldrea makes the ultimate sacrifice, deciding that if Dak dies due to the virus, she will too. Aldrea becomes a Hork Bajir nothlit.

We learn that this quantum virus is the source of Alloran’s “disgrace” in the Andalite Chronicles and that the main Yeerk in this story would later go on to become Visser Three. The Yeerks continue to inhabit the planet and use it for mining, relying on the remaining Hork Bajir and Arn to do their dirty work. While the Arn thought they could escape the Yeerks by altering the blood vessels in their brain to rupture when a Yeerk tries to enter, the Yeerks quickly learned from this and subjugated them through plain old pain. To our knowledge Dak and Aldrea survive long enough to create Jara Hamee, but we know no more than this.

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I absolutely ADORED the Hork Bajir homeworld. I would have never guessed that the Hork Bajir were genetically engineered by a sentient species, designed to be placid and content with a life swinging through and eating trees. They’re such a beautiful and peaceful species, it wasn’t until this book that I truly understood why their enslavement was the Andalite race’s biggest disappointment.

But by the same token I was disgusted at their treatment by the Andalites and Arn - the Arn created them to do their grunt work, and the Andalites failed to save them because they hadn’t deemed them intelligent enough to be worth their while. It was an incredibly tragic loss, but the Andalites deserved to feel that pain and disappointment as punishment for their arrogance. I had to laugh at the Arn’s fate: they thought they were so technologically advanced that they could elude Yeerk infestation, but they failed to consider that prisoners can also be taken by force.

Dak and Aldrea’s story was so beautiful. I loved how Aldrea began as an arrogant Andalite thinking the Hork Bajir weren’t worth her time, and eventually became a nothlit so that she would die alongside Dak Hamee. Conversely, it was wonderful to see how Dak craved knowledge, wanting to become more than he was destined for. Though they obviously survived long enough to produce offspring, I would have loved to see a tragic finale where they both died in each others’ arms from the quantum virus. I really hope we get to hear more from the free Hork Bajir colony, and even from survivors on the homeworld. ...more

**spoiler alert** I've been completely sucked in by the show and was dying to see how the story ends, so I picked up Under the Dome and desperately tr**spoiler alert** I've been completely sucked in by the show and was dying to see how the story ends, so I picked up Under the Dome and desperately tried to devour it as quickly as possible. Not an easy feat - it felt like this book would never end! I alternated between the audiobook and my Kindle, and no matter how long I sat there it never felt as if the dial were winding down!

I loved Stephen King's It and The Shining for their copious amounts of detail; I could get lost in all the little stories while never losing sight of the overall plotarc. That wasn't the case with Under the Dome. The whole story takes place over the space of a week or so, but Stephen King manages to drag it out so that it feels like 3 bloody months. It felt like nobody ever slept in Chester's Mill, they were constantly awake, agonising and plotting.

Speaking of plotting, Big Jim Rennie nearly gave me an aneurysm. King is known for producing despicable male characters that make you want to put your fist through the nearest wall, but Big Jim took the cake. He wasn't outright disturbed like the young cops that gangraped Sammy Bushey, but he deserved his own special space in Hell and then some. I've never seen a more cold, calculating and conniving character. He barely shows an ounce of humanity throughout the novel, constantly conspiring to make the residents' lives hell, killing the town off with the flick of a wrist and somehow managing to profit off it. I spent the whole novel with my guts in a twist, dying for someone to break into Big Jim's house and smash his face in with a crowbar while he slept.

But while Stephen King is known for producing some of the scummiest male characters known to man, he's also known for giving them pretty crappy deaths. Big Jim was worthy of being violated with a plank covered in rusty nails; being held and tortured for weeks on end in the basement of an abandoned house; having acid poured into his eyes and having his tongue cut off. Does any of this happen to him? Of course not. The bastard's heart simply gives out due to a lack of oxygen during the final days of the dome. Although we get the satisfaction of knowing he died utterly alone with his beloved town in ruins, it doesn't compensate for the amount of pain and suffering he inflicted during his lifetime. If Stephen King's villains have ever made you want to punch someone, DO NOT READ THIS NOVEL. Your blood pressure will thank you for it.

It seems that evil runs in the Rennie family, but Big Jim's son Junior couldn't have been more different. While Junior opens the novel with a horrific murder that falls just shy of a sex crime, at no point did I ever think he surpassed his father. Maybe it's the knowledge that much of Junior's behaviour was caused by a massive brain tumour, whilst his father was a monster of his own making. Or maybe it's because Junior's violence was motivated by emotion, whilst Big Jim committed violence to remove threats and further his own endeavours. They both hurt a lot of people and both deserve a nasty afterlife, but it's funny how the two villains couldn't have been more different.

(Sidenote: If you can, try to experience Under the Dome in audiobook format. The narrator does a fantastic job of portraying Junior's descent into brain tumour-induced madness!)

Changing the topic, I have to say that I hated the ending. If you read the final Sookie Stackhouse book and were frustrated how it practically ended midsentence, you're going to be in the same boat here. Sure, the dome eventually lifts and most of our favourites survive, but we get little more beyond that. We never learn where the "Leatherheads" come from or get to see their "parents". We get no inkling as to why this technology exists, and if the Leatherheads' parents have experimented on other civilisations. We never learn if there were nasty repercussions for the lonely Leatherhead that took pity on Julia.

We never learn how Julia, Barbie and co get on after the dome lifts. Are they squirreled off to a secret government base and interrogated for answers? Or do they refuse to tell anyone what happened and start new lives in Derry, Maine? We never get to see the President admit that the dome was alien technology, or blame it on a rogue country like North Korea. We never see the military clean up Chester's Mill or see Big Jim's conduct become the subject of public inquiry. We get nothing. We get a lame bullying analogy and a story left mid conversation.

I can only hope that the TV show diverges and does this story justice. I didn't mind that the "pink stars falling in lines" was explained here as a meteor shower coupled with pollution on the dome, but I was miffed that King barely explained the shared seizures. I don't care whether it was something the Leatherheads planned or a byproduct of interacting with the dome, I just want some sort of answer! I hope the show also does a better job with the Leatherheads themselves. Judging from a scene in the finale it appears that they have different intentions: rather than simply playing with the humans like ants under a magnifying glass, the TV!aliens appear to be teaching humanity or forcing them to evolve. I'm certainly interested to see what happens with the egg given that it was never part of the original story!

Overall: At its core, Under the Dome is a fascinating examination of how society breaks down when people are left to self-govern in the wake of an emergency. Unfortunately the book loses impact as King bogs the reader down with details, leaving them feeling emotionally drained rather than energised to learn the dome's secrets. And after sitting through so many internal monologues and unnecessary backstories, there aren't even any secrets to be revealed! We're left with a few words exchanged in another plane of consciousness, a town annihilated, and a story that practically ends midsentence. King fails to do the townspeople, the dome, or its creators any justice. Totally dissatisfied! ...more

**spoiler alert** I promised myself that I'd read this book before watching the film, and even though it's been a couple of years since I made that pr**spoiler alert** I promised myself that I'd read this book before watching the film, and even though it's been a couple of years since I made that promise, I still haven't broken it! It's just taken a lot longer to get off my arse and read the book than I'd originally intended.

Even though this was such a quick read, I found myself putting it down again and again. It didn't grip me the way I thought it would. Nothing about it was overly awful, but it wasn't even close to the suspense I felt during James Dashner's The Maze Runner, where I couldn't devour the book fast enough. It was slow, with much of the time spent building relationships and mythology and the action thrown in hurriedly at the end.

John and Sarah's relationship bored the hell out of me. I guess it's fitting that they're so attracted to each other, because I found them both to be devoid of personality. I can't remember a single interesting conversation they had that didn't involve Mark James. The author placed such emphasis on their chemistry in home ec, but I can't recall any witty banter exchanged over that infamous plate of pancakes. The relationship boiled down to 'You're pretty, I'm pretty, you like photography and we both have Home Ec together. Let me rub my face all over your face'.

I can't even recall any interesting conversations between John and Sam for the first half of the book. From the Halloween Parade onward it's all good, but prior to that....how did they even become friends, besides their mutual torment by Mark James and his crew? What did they talk about during that infamous track session with Bernie Kosar? What were they talking about that day in the cafeteria, when Mark threw his lunch at the back of Sam's head? Beyond an initial 'What's with the gloves?' did they just sit in silence, appreciating their mutual lonerhood for 2 months?

On the other hand, I remember the interactions with Henri and Bernie Kosar all too well. I figured that there was more to Bernie early on, guessing he was similar to the creature John had played with on Lorien, but not wanting to put too much stock into it. I guessed that when he disappeared into the forest during those morning runs, he was either transforming into a bird or simply running at superhuman speeds. As soon as the chimaera were explained I knew that's what Bernie was, though I didn't figure him for Hadley on Lorien. I also didn't make the connection between the gecko in Florida, or pick up on John's Dr Dolittle ability.

Speaking of which, that was thrown in far too randomly at the end. So much time was spent on the lights and telekinesis, but at the end John just kinda went "Oh Bernie is speaking to me? I must be able to talk to all animals! Oh yeah, I was totally communicating with that deer that you'd all forgotten about too. Yay I have another Legacy!' It was so forced, and surely the author could've come up with a better way to clarify that John could speak to all animals, and not just Bernie as his familiar/guardian.

Bernie was such a great character though, and I shed a few tears when I thought he'd died near the end. I stay away from films and books featuring animals as major characters, as 9 times out of 10 they die in some horribly tragic way *cough* I Am Legend *cough*. As soon as Bernie popped up I started preparing myself for the worst, even though his apparent alien abilities made me feel better than knowing a regular dog would perish as part of the story. That didn't stop the tears from flowing when the time came though, and I was solidly sobbing until Sarah revealed at the hotel that he'd survived.

I was so touched by Bernie that I was a little conflicted over Henri's death. I was upset that John just dismissed Bernie as having died, bypassing his hurt little body and crawling over to Henri. The rational part of my brain knew that the death of a human (well, Lorien) should naturally take priority, but the animal lover in me was irrationally screaming at John to go cuddle Bernie. Thank god Bernie survived, or I think I would have been a sobbing wreck for the rest of the evening. And this folks, is why I stay away from books and films with animals as major characters.

I wish the book had been more evenly paced, with the first Mogadorian encounter happening earlier on. For much of the book we don't know what they look like and how they're operating on Earth, then suddenly BAM! ENCOUNTER IN ATHENS and BAM! BEAST DESTROYING ENTIRE SCHOOL IN A DOME OF DARKNESS AND PAIN. The first two thirds of the book are so internalised, just the wanderings of John's mind as he navigates life in Paradise, Ohio. The last third reads as if the author thought 'Oh fuck, my editor is telling me to hurry it along *throws ALL the things in*'

The last few chapters just seem so out of place. While we're aware from the get go that this isn't a book grounded in reality, that it is in fact a young adult sci-fi novel, the last third of book feels as if it were ripped from the pages of an urban fantasy text. I felt less like I was watching an alien war, and more like I was witnessing a team of Slendermen battle in the Gloom/Twilight from Sergei Lukyanenko's Night Watch series. While we're told of the Mogadorians' killing swords and terrifying beasts, the details are so few and far between until that final moment. Maybe if the author had deigned to give us more details, it would have read better.

All that being said, there were things I liked about the novel. I liked Henri as the often frustrated Cepan/father figure, and I imagine there'll be some great angsty moments over the next few books where John realises that he often took Henri for granted. I'd like to see more of what life is like as a Cepan, and especially what it was like on Lorien. I imagine there were times where it could interfere with relationships, even before the war and escape to Earth.

I loved Bernie, and hope like hell he survives the entire series. I thought Six was pretty badass and put John to shame. I hope the other Garde prove to be just as awesome, and it'd be great if we got a particularly hardass Russian in the bunch. I hope we find out what their Lorien names are, because surely they weren't referred to as 1-9 before being shoved in that spaceship! I'd also like to know who chose the order. Until Six showed up, Nine was having a sweet time of it with that charm!

I'm uber curious about Lorien and its history. The Loriens had a presence on Earth for thousands of years, cross-breeding with humans and ushering along civilisation. Did they interfere in other planets in such a way, or only Earth because it was in such close proximity to Lorien? And yet they seem to have traveled the length and breadth of the entire universe, to know that there are only X number of life-sustaining planets in existence. It's strange to me that there wouldn't be other Garde and Cepan already on Earth from prior to the Fall.

I can't wait to find out what happened to the Elders and the second ship containing the chimaera. Were they transported to Earth, or did they find another planet on which to start anew? (It all has such a nice Battlestar Galactica ring to it!) And are the Mogadorians really just evil for the sake of being evil? I find it hard to believe that an entire race would be that two-dimensional, that they could hate Lorien and Earth just on principle. Even the Animorphs series contained at least 1 sympathetic Yeerk, so surely there are two sides to the story!

Overall:I Am Number Four isn't as gripping as it could be, suffering from slow pacing and a main couple that are as interesting as watching paint dry. Fortunately the other characters have some semblance of a personality, and the author has built a mythology mysterious enough to keep me reading. I want to find out what happens in the end, though I can already see myself putting the second book down more times than is reasonable for such a quick read. Not really sure how it managed to achieve a feature film adaptation. ...more

**spoiler alert** I'm embarrassed to admit how much I enjoyed this book. Though there were some characters and scenes in the Twilight saga that I did**spoiler alert** I'm embarrassed to admit how much I enjoyed this book. Though there were some characters and scenes in the Twilight saga that I did enjoy, the series as a whole was infuriating and poorly written. I expected the same of The Host and mentally prepared myself for an overuse of the word 'chagrined'. I was pleasantly surprised by this book, and had I not already known, I'd have never guessed it was written by the same woman that gave us angsty sparkly vampires!

I've been meaning to read this book for a while now, but was never motivated to actually pick it up. And despite being on a YA dystopian sci-fi kick lately, it still didn't rate on my to-read list. I put it down to residual trauma from the Twilight series; though it's been years, I just wasn't prepared to hear the word 'chagrin' ever again. It wasn't until I started seeing film posters featuring Saoirse Ronan around Brisbane City that I decided to pick it up. I love Saoirse Ronan and that incited me to go see the film, and since I generally like to read the book before seeing the film adaptation, that got me off my arse and reading this book.

It's fitting that now is the time I decided to pick up this book, because I've also been revisiting the Animorphs series. It was fascinating to me how the 'souls' sat at the opposite end of the spectrum from the Yeerks: the souls came in peace to experience and better the Earth, while the Yeerks came to conquer and destroy it. And yet the gentle silvery souls were feared just as much, if not more, than the slimy Yeerk slugs.

The mission of the souls was a little confusing to me. It seemed that their intentions started out pure: to experience the universe through the eyes of all its creatures. Perhaps the creatures they'd previously inhabited weren't capable of such higher level thinking, but the way in which Wanderer discussed her previous lives made it seem as if both the host and parasite lived together harmoniously. It didn't feel as if they'd stolen anything from the bats, the dolphins or the See Weeds.

And yet when they reached Earth, their mission switched from 'experiencing' to 'fixing' it. They seemed to feel that their human hosts weren't worthy of the planet, and they should be kicked out of the drivers seat and relegated to the deepest, darkest corners of their own minds. I'm unsure if this was a deliberate move on the author's part that she didn't explain well enough; if the author was trying to say that the souls' motives aren't as pure and 'right' as they think they are.

I was fascinated by the other species and planets that Wanda described, and I hope we get to see more of them, now that the sequels have officially been announced. The See Weeds reminded me of Eywa in Avatar (though obviously this book was released before then), and I was intrigued by the planet of the Bats: a planet that we got no physical description of as the Bats were blind. The Bear planet sounded utterly beautiful, as did the planet of the Flowers. I particularly want to learn more about the Fire Planet, as Wanderer's lack of experience there meant we didn't get much info on it. The Fire-Tasters and Walking Flowers sounded particularly brutal, so I'm curious as to whether the souls thought that was a planet that also needed 'fixing' like Earth.

I have to wonder if the souls would ever tire of a particular planet and leave it behind. Would they keep inhabiting Bats for the sake of letting new souls experience a life as a Bat, or would they deem that they'd had enough experience on that world and move on to a next? Would they ever run out of human hosts to inhabit, or are they still procreating at a rapid enough rate? And thinking about the human child we saw with the family of souls - would that child be inserted with a soul one day, or would it be allowed to live free? Would that then start a trend, and eventually souls could live in harmony with free humans? I really hope the story of the human child is revisited in the sequels.

I've tired of love triangles in young adult fiction, but enjoyed the original take on it in this book. It was intriguing how people managed to separate Melanie and Wanderer: Jared loved Melanie and her body, but was repulsed by the thing inhabiting it. And while Ian must have had some attraction to Melanie's body, he also loved the thing inhabiting it. I wondered how I would have felt in that situation. Though the abuse inflicted upon Wanderer was horrific, I imagine I would have too been repulsed by the idea of a creature wearing my significant other as a 'meat suit', even if said creature was kind and gentle. Though I'm sure that I could have fallen in love with a soul in a male body, I'm not sure how my feelings would be affected if the meat suit changed.

It's really hard to say given that Melanie just happens to be attractive, and the type of beauty that both Jared and Ian like. What if Melanie had been a bit frumpy, a bit older, or just the type of girl Jared would find attractive, but Ian typically wouldn't? Would Ian have fallen for her regardless of the meat suit she wore, or would they have had a platonic or familial relationship? And what if they hadn't managed to find a body that was equally as attractive as Melanie? Would Ian have been able to love Wanderer if her body was older and it suddenly became a cougar-cub relationship?

The separation between Wanderer, Melanie and Mel's body was also interesting when it came to the violence inflicted upon it. It was so disturbing that Kyle, Ian and Jared wouldn't ordinarily hit a woman, but a woman with an alien attached to her brain stem is fair game. It's one thing to hurl verbal abuse or give the cold shoulder to the creature inside of Melanie, but I just couldn't believe that Jared could leave bruises on the flesh of his significant other, even if he didn't think Melanie was 'home' at the time. I'm not abnormally sensitive to violence against women on-screen and in books, but even I wanted to cry from time to time over the treatment of Wanderer.

Speaking of crying......yeah, not too embarrassed to admit I had a teary moment at the end. I'm a sucker for a tragic ending to a love story. Though seeing characters fall in love makes my heart burst and all that jazz, I also enjoy bawling my eyes out as lovers are ripped apart by death. I got really invested in Ian and Wanda's strange relationship, and I lost it at the idea of little silvery Wanda curling up and dying next to Walter and Wes. Though I get frustrated when authors find deus ex machina ways of keeping characters together, I let out a big sigh of relief when the author found an ethical way to give Wanda a body again.

Just so this isn't a super gushy review, I will say that there were things I didn't like about the book! Despite how thoroughly the author described it, I just couldn't visualise the cave complex. I couldn't picture people getting around a purple cave complex with Swiss cheese holes in the wall, and light filling only a few rooms. I couldn't visualise the mirrors in the roof over the fields, and I couldn't fathom how people could bathe and poop in the dark without some light. I also couldn't understand how on Earth Jared and co. had never had their cars tracked back to the caves. Given that souls don't live alone out in the desert, surely someone would have seen a car driving into the desert and thought it suspicious.

I also have to say that the amount of carrying-Wanda-bridal-style was weird. Fair enough if she was injured or unconscious, but there was a moment where Ian literally scooped her up and ran angrily across the cave complex. I laughed out loud at the ridiculousness of it all. Sure, grab Wanda roughly by the hand and lead her into a corner to argue, but don't pick her up like you're Tarzan and she's Jane! I don't really want to know how the author thought it was appropriate to include that in the scene, it's just too creepy...

Overall: Despite being by Smeyer, I really enjoyed this book. Though the use of 'chagrin' was thrown around once or twice, there was no abuse of the words 'marble', 'topaz' and 'dazzle'. The universe and mythology the author weaved were surprisingly complex, and though I did notice a few holes here and there, they didn't impede the story and may possibly be expanded upon in the sequels. Despite loathing love triangles as a whole, it was fascinating to see the love for Melanie, Mel's body and Wanderer. It made me question if I could love a soul or the body they were inhabiting, and if that would change if the meatsuit did too. Overall it was a surprisingly solid effort, and I am actually looking forward to the sequels! ...more

**spoiler alert** If you're a fan of LOST or Battlestar Galactica, you'll like Shades of Earth. In this book the Godspeeders are hunted down by a near**spoiler alert** If you're a fan of LOST or Battlestar Galactica, you'll like Shades of Earth. In this book the Godspeeders are hunted down by a near invisible alien threat, much like the 'Others' on LOST. It seems like everytime the colonists go into that damn forest, someone meets a mysterious and nasty end!

The separation of Godspeed and the shuttle also conjured up images of Battlestar Galactica, with part of the fleet dividing and settling after the discovery of New Caprica. And although the dynamics and seats of power were very different, I couldn't help but compare the situation on Centauri-Earth to that of New Caprica, where the crew on Galactica were largely unaware of the oppression and slavery being enforced by the Cylons down below.

The separation of the fleet and subsequent colonisation also reminded me of a scene in Stargate Universe that struck a chord with me. The crew of the Destiny stumble upon an inhabitable planet that they're willing to call 'home'. They learn that they're not the first ones there though, discovering an obelisk constructed by another civilisation! I don't think they ever gave an answer on the show as to what happened there, so as you can imagine, I was on the edge of my seat waiting to find out what humanoid creatures created the buildings on Centauri-Earth! Fans of Jurassic Park will also adore Shades of Earth for one simple reason: MOTHERFRAKKING PTERODACTYLS.

Beth Revis is a master at weaving mysteries, and I was constantly on the edge of a nervous pee, wondering if Godspeed would ever reach the planet. The mysteries didn't ease up one bit in Shades of Earth, as I found myself wanting to skip work and stay home to read, just so I could find out the answers!

When the answers did come, they weren't what I expected. Part of me didn't think the author would actually venture into alien territory, but part of me wished that's what had happened. I was eager to meet an intelligent, ruthless and terrifying alien species that would take no prisoners; willing to do what it takes to secure their planet. When the 'aliens' came out of the woods I was practically foaming at the mouth, visualising these creatures not unlike the Kanima in Teen Wolf. I was hoping for some disturbing revelation as to how Phydus came to be in both human and alien hands. And I was hoping that the aliens would somehow make their way to Sol-Earth, exacting revenge on the FRX for the colonisation of their planet.

The hybrid stuff was just....weird. If you weren't impressed when M. Night Shyamalan explained what the 'monsters' were in The Village, you'll understand how I felt reading this. Instead of immediately saying 'OMG ALIENS KILLED THE FIRST COLONY EVERYONE IS EXTINCT', Revis could've played up the mystery of what happened to them. She should've placed more emphasis on the ruins having been built by a now-missing first colony, a la Roanoke. I would've been more satisfied if Revis had gone with a first-colony-eager-to-get-their-revenge angle. Jumping between aliens, humans, and settling on non-humans was too much.

Maybe I'm overly tired and missing something, but the Phydus and gen mod conspiracy just didn't make sense to me. Sol-Earth technology advanced so fast that a second colony arrived before Godspeed and colonised Centauri-Earth. When Godspeed eventually arrived, the colony was in revolt due to job dissatisfaction, and the FRX had invented the PhydusGM 'vaccine' to subdue them. The FRX wanted to 'vaccinate' the Godspeeders as they arrived on the planet, so they'd be docile from the get go. Eldest didn't agree with this though, and his people stayed on the ship - only for him to introduce Phydus anyway!

It would've made more sense if the FRX had simply killed all the rebellious citizens from the first colony, and told the Godspeeders that they'd been killed by a plague. The FRX then could've 'vaccinated' the Godspeeders against this fictional plague with a hit of Phydus and gen mod material, getting them set up to work immediately. I don't get what happened to allow Eldest to stay on Godspeed with his people with no interference from the FRX! And with what happened to Eldest's daughter, you'd think he'd be against Phydus of any kind, in spite of the uprising on board.

The way in which the PhydusGM worked seemed a bit light on the science, too. I'm no science major, but even I sat there thinking "You're making this up as you go along, aren't you?" At first the hybrid immunity was presented as something naturally built up over time. Then the author decided to actually mention how it works, linking it to the adrenal gland and what-not. Then the author presented it as the result of FRX males forcibly mating with the Phydus-drugged female population. Then we learn that there was a cure all along, and even though it requires rewriting DNA, that's suuuuuper easy to do? What the-?!

Revis could've done without the gen mod altogether. It would've made more sense just to drug everyone into oblivion, upping the doses when they began to build a natural immunity. The FRX then could have killed any children that were born entirely immune, since killing doesn't seem to be a problem for them. It's ridiculous to me that the FRX would genetically modify the colony with super senses and strength, when all they're doing is making bloody glass bombs and lightbulbs! They could've left that to evolution and natural selection.

I was also iffy on the ending with Elder and Amy. They annoyed the crap out of me in this book, with every sickeningly sickly description of them kissing sending me into diabetic shock. I thought it was beautiful and tragic when Elder's shuttle supposedly exploded in orbit; that she would have to grow up on a planet that he had died to protect. I had hoped that this would lead her to accept her new DNA, and that she'd eventually find love with one of the hybrids. It's a bit friggin convenient that Elder's escape rocket that looked so flimsy somehow managed to withstand a firestorm of uranium and metal!

Elder, Amy and deus ex machinas aside, I did like the final exchange between Amy and the FRX. Although I'm aware that this is a trilogy, I'd love to see the battle between Sol and Centauri-Earth. I'd love to see the FRX brought to their knees, and Elder appointed new head of the FRX. I'd like to see the new FRX bring more colonies over from Sol-Earth, and everybody living in relative harmony.

Overall: If you're a fan of Battlestar Galactica, LOST or Stargate Universe, you'll like Shades of Earth. But if you're a massive fan of the previous two books in the series, keep an open mind, as it doesn't end the way I ever thought it would. Revis fumbles through the reveal of the 'monsters' on Centauri-Earth, but the ending is nowhere near as dissatisfying as Maria Snyder's Inside Out series. ...more

**spoiler alert** The Andalite Chronicles tells the tale of how Elfangor came to be in the construction site that night, bequeathing a magical gift to**spoiler alert** The Andalite Chronicles tells the tale of how Elfangor came to be in the construction site that night, bequeathing a magical gift to five complete strangers.

The tale begins with Elfangor and another young Andalite, Arbron, in training as young “arisths”. While boarding a Skrit Na ship they discover that the Skrit Na have abducted two humans and a number of Earthly artifacts. A second Skrit Na ship escapes with the “Time Matrix”, a device invented by the Ellemists that allows the user the control space and time. The Skrit Na have no idea how powerful the object is, planning simply to sell it off at the Yeerk-infested Taxxon homeworld.

Elfangor, Arbron and disgraced Prince Alloran take the two humans to the Taxxon homeworld in an attempt to recover the Time Matrix. One of the humans is a female named Loren, while the other would later grow up to be the Superintendent Chapman we know today. In a series of unfortunate events Arbron becomes a nothlit, stuck in a Taxxon body and living amongst the “hive mind” of rebel Taxxons. Even sadder still, Alloran is captured and infected by the Yeerk we now know as Visser Three.

Elfangor, Visser Three and Loren fight for the Time Matrix and are transported to a world of their own creation: equal parts Yeerk, human and Andalite. Fortunately Loren and Elfangor regain control of the Time Matrix and are sent to Earth, where Elfangor becomes a human nothlit and starts a family with Loren. Unfortunately it’s too good to be true and the Ellimists intervene, telling Elfangor that should he continue to live his life as a human, the universe as we know it will begin to unravel.

Elfangor concedes defeat and is returned to his Andalite body, leaving Loren and his unborn child behind. We learn that this son would later grow up to be Tobias. The Ellimists leave us with a little Easter Egg: they aren’t all powerful and are also fighting their own enemies.

---

Seeing the Taxxon homeworld was equal parts intriguing and disgusting. The descriptions of the neverending Taxxon hunger were so real - I could practically feel Arbron’s despair, feeling that death would be preferable to the insatiable Taxxon hunger. I’m curious as to whether he survived very long on Taxxon, both in terms of his work with the rebels and his ability to live as a vicious, cannibalistic worm.

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of the seemingly omnipotent and omnipresent Ellimists, so I was stoked to see that they played such a large role in the Andalite timeline. Even though my heart broke when I discovered that Elfangor was Tobias’ long lost father, it was wonderful to see that he had never landed in that construction site by chance. That while Tobias didn’t know it, his crappy homelife had been the work of the Ellimists and not the cruelty and neglect of humans. That him becoming a hawk nothlit wasn’t just bad luck, it was likely course correction by the Ellimists. I’m super keen to find out more about the Ellimists, as they hinted that while they’re capable of massive feats like the Time Matrix, they may be fighting a losing battle against their own enemies.

Now that we have the backstory of how Visser Three came to inhabit an Andalite body, I’m curious about the Yeerks’ first days on Earth. Chapman’s memory was supposedly erased before he returned to Earth, so how did he become so instrumental in the Yeerk invasion? I assume he was targeted by the Yeerks to become a Controller, but did they use technology to restore his memories or did they naturally return once he was infected? How did the first few Yeerks manage to get down here and get a foothold on the planet?

I’m also curious to read more about the “quantum virus” released on the Hork Bajir homeworld, which is eerily reminiscent of a Sigma Force book I read recently - though obviously the Animorphs series predates that! I'm also super keen to read more about the Skrit Na, now that we know they're the source of the Roswell "little grey men" stories! ...more

**spoiler alert** This is the final book in the story arc of David. In this book, the Animorphs not only have to prevent the Yeerks from infesting the**spoiler alert** This is the final book in the story arc of David. In this book, the Animorphs not only have to prevent the Yeerks from infesting the President, they have to worry about David killing them off in the process! David has gone from zero to psychopath in 10 seconds, making it clear he has no qualms about killing off fellow children.

The Animorphs manage to sabotage the Yeerk operation with a few rhinoceros and elephant morphs, but the fight against David doesn't go as smoothly. He's intent on killing off the Animorphs one by one, but doesn't leave it at the Animorphs – he kills Jake's injured cousin and takes his place! The Animorphs are terrified of David, having made it clear that he will stop at nothing to get to them – even morphing into a flea and riding around on one of them!

Thankfully after a genius plan and some good acting, the Animorphs trap David in rat morph at the infamous construction site. They force him to become a nothlit and ensure that he will never hurt anybody ever again. The Animorphs drop his sorry rat ass onto an isolated island in the middle of the ocean, where his disembodied distressed thought-screams soon spawn an urban legend amongst passing sailors.

The Animorphs live to die another day.

---

THANK FRAKKING GOD. David was an utterly evil douche, and I would have thrown my copy of the book across the room if he hadn't met a nasty end. I was personally hoping to see him slowly tortured in a basement somewhere, but dropping his nothlit ass on a deserted island was the next best option! Though this book series is obviously aimed at older children, David was so loathesome and evil that he wouldn't be out of place in a Stephen King novel.

As much as David made me want to hurl my Kindle across the room, I really did enjoy this three-part story arc. It was a nice departure from the monster-of-the-week self-contained stories, which were starting to stagnate. I'd become so accustomed to having everything wrapped up in 100 pages that I was getting antsy toward the end of The Discovery, wondering how on earth the author would resolve the David and world leader situations. It was a nice, albeit frustrating, surprise to see 'to be continued...' at the bottom of the last page!

I also really enjoyed the character progression we got to see with Rachel here. Tobias, Marco, Cassie and Jake have had their own books devoted to 'finding themselves' and The Solution was Rachel's. I was getting worried that she was turning into a cold-blooded murderer, and in this book she realised that she was changing too. She realised that the other Animorphs turned to her when they needed people hacked up into little pieces, and Rachel decided she didn't like that at all. She enjoyed the little Xena taunts, but she didn't want to be known as the bloodthirsty psycho of the group. It was great to see Rachel conducting an inward analysis of herself, and stepping back before she went past the point of no return. ...more

**spoiler alert** In this book the Animorphs become 7! After the new kid at school discovers Elfangor's morphing tech-cube in the construction site ne**spoiler alert** In this book the Animorphs become 7! After the new kid at school discovers Elfangor's morphing tech-cube in the construction site near his house, the Animorphs embark on a mission to get it in safe hands. Unfortunately this results in a battle between Visser Three's forces and the Animorphs, which exposes the Yeerk battle and destroys the new kid's house in the process. The Animorphs manage to escape with the cube, but are thrust into an awkward situation as the new kid now knows too much. The Animorphs are then forced to make new kid (David) into one of them.

The Animorphs bring David on a crucial mission, where failure could see the President of the United States being made into a Controller. Marco immediately realises something wrong with David as he freaks out before the mission, and also kills a crow in cold blood whilst in eagle morph. The Animorphs narrowly escape being squashed in cockroach morph whilst on the mission, only to end up flung out the air hatch several thousand feet above the ground! The book ends with a 'to be continued...' cliffhanger, and Visser Three having acquired the President's DNA.

---

Oooh, this is the first two-part storyline we've had! All the other books were 'monster of the week' self-contained stories, but this one stretches over multiple books!

I'm really interested to see how this David guy plays out. It was one thing for him to fall apart or be a giant asshole, but it was another to kill the crow in cold blood. I'm wondering whether he's some kind of awful sociopath serial-killer-in-the-making, or if he was unhealthily expressing his angst at having no control over his life. He'd previously whined about how he constantly had to pack up and leave because of his dad's job, and how he therefore never really had any friends. So it'd kind of make sense if his killing the crow was because he finally felt strength and control in that eagle morph.

That being said, get the fuck out of the Animorphs club already! I'm not sure how the author could permanently get rid of him without a gory or violent end. I don't think the Visser is going to lop his head off, because that would probably be too violent for a series aimed at kids so young. It's one thing for the Animorphs to rip the throats out of Hork-Bajir, or for the Visser to make general decapitation threats, but it feels different here because they now know David. I'm personally hoping that he either killed in cockroach morph or becomes a nothlit. But knowing the author, the Ellemist will interfere or there will be some other random means by which the Animorphs can strip David of his morphing capabilities and his memories.

I'm also incredibly interested to see how this mission with the world leaders turns out. It was bad enough when the Animorphs only had to worry about preventing a world leader from becoming infested, but now they have to worry about the Visser having acquired the President's DNA! The scales have tipped considerably in the Yeerks' favour, and unless the Animorphs can manage to kill Visser Three in this next book (which I doubt as I get the feeling he'll be there till the very end), the Animorphs are screwed! Fingers crossed the Ellemist or even Erek intervene. ...more

**spoiler alert** In this book, Cassie turns her back on the Animorphs. Sickened by the violence they're forced to commit, Cassie gives up her role in**spoiler alert** In this book, Cassie turns her back on the Animorphs. Sickened by the violence they're forced to commit, Cassie gives up her role in the fight against the Yeerks, vowing never to morph again. But her promise is quickly broken, as she unintentionally embarks on a wilderness adventure with a young girl-Controller.

Said girl-Controller had been stalking Cassie on suspicion of being an Andalite. Both girls became lost in the forest after being chased by a bear, and Cassie quickly gives up her secret. She comes to realise that not all Yeerks are evil, and that some simply want to be able to witness the visual delights that Earth has to offer. Some just want more than a life spent swimming in the sludge of the Yeerk pool.

Cassie makes a deal with the girl-Controller to free the host. The Yeerk agrees to relinquish her control on the girl's mind if Cassie deliberately becomes a nothlit: trapping herself in a caterpillar's body forever. Fortunately the caterpillar morph provides a loophole, what with the caterpillar's natural ability to morph into a butterfly. Once Cassie becomes a butterfly, she's able to morph back into a human again! The Yeerk continues to hold up her end of the deal though, and Cassie is provided with a new outlook on life.

---

I wanted to throw my Kindle across the room sooooo many times whilst reading this book. At the beginning I wanted to punch the other Animorphs as they failed to empathise with Cassie, calling her selfish and stupid. It might be cowardly to give up when you're one of the few people that can stop the Yeerks, but at the same time there's no shame in not wanting to take a life. I was frustrated as hell that the Animorphs couldn't see that. If they should be judging anybody, it's Rachel - she's well on her way to becoming a psychopath! Girl enjoys the killing too much if you ask me.

While I sympathised with Cassie in the beginning, I wanted to throw my Kindle across the room as I followed her antics in the forest. If the Animorphs thought she was dumb before, they had a helluva lot of ammunition against her after that! She gave up her Animorph status within the first few pages, and then actually let the Yeerk infest her, allowing it to rifle through all her memories and secrets? And then willingly gave up her human body forever, just to save this Yeerk and little girl? WHAT THE HELL CASSIE.

It all worked out in the end, but I just couldn't like this book. I enjoyed learning that not all Yeerks are evil, but surely there was a less dumb and rage-inducing way to write such a story. Cassie was previously one of my favourite characters for her humanity and convictions, but now she's lost all credibility in my eyes. So, so dumb. ...more

**spoiler alert** In this book the Sario Rip makes a comeback, as our Animorphs are thrown 65 million years into the past! While investigating the fai**spoiler alert** In this book the Sario Rip makes a comeback, as our Animorphs are thrown 65 million years into the past! While investigating the failure of a nuclear submarine offshore, the Animorphs are caught in a massive explosion that sends them hurtling into the Cretaceous Period. The Animorphs spend their days dodging Tyrannosaurus Rexes and trying to figure out how to get back to their own time.

But the Animorphs aren't the only intelligent species on Earth. The Earth also plays host to the Nesk: a race of ant-like creatures that can bond together to form larger shapes. The Nesk are scavengers and immigrants, having come to Earth after invading a number of other civilisations. Earth is also home to the Mercora, a peaceful race of crab-like creatures that narrowly escaped the destruction of their home planet. While they wish to live in peace, the Nesk don't believe in cohabitation.

The Mercora want to assist the Animorphs in creating an explosion to reverse the effects of the Sario Rip, but the only explosives on Earth are in the Nesk settlement. So the Animorphs infiltrate the Nesk settlement in dinosaur form, which results in many casualties on both Mercora and Nesk sides. The Nesk retreat from Earth in what seems to be a peaceful escape, only for them to later tamper with an incoming comet and set its trajectory to collide with Earth. The Mercora believe they can use the newly acquired nuke to destroy the comet before it enters the atmosphere, but Ax and Tobias come to a startling conclusion.

This is the comet that was responsible for the destruction of the dinosaurs. If the Animorphs tamper with it, they'll be rewriting history. Even though it will mean betraying the Mercora and leading them to their deaths, the Animorphs have to let the comet destroy Earth. So Ax tampers with the nuke to render it useless and sends the Mercora into space. The comet collides with Earth, sending the Animorphs back through the Sario Rip. But instead of being instantly whipped back to their own time, the Animorphs get to witness the evolution of Earth over the next 65 million years.

---

I LOVED this book. I harp on about loving X and Y books in the series for various reasons, but I can safely say that this has been my favourite thus far. It's exciting, terrifying, fascinating, and packed with DINOSAURS! I was a massive geek for dinosaurs as a kid, just like Tobias, so I'm bummed that I never owned this book! My younger self would have just devoured this book, marvelling at the different species and rattling off dinosaur names alongside Tobias.

This book was a muuuuch more satisfying view of the Sario Rip than in The Forgotten. I was incredibly fascinated by the idea that the Animorphs might have always been there. That those 5 kids made that fateful trip through the construction site that evening because future versions of themselves had gone on an accidental-time-travel-holiday. That the Yeerk invasion is only happening because 5 kids and an Andalite blew up the planet and spawned the human race. Talk about a mindfuck!

The way in which the Mercora played into the story was also fascinating. It was so tragic that the Mercora had to be sacrificed in order for the human race to be born. I felt awful for the Animorphs as they accepted help from the Mercora, knowing that this peaceful race had no place in Earth's future. I wonder how the future might have been altered if the Mercora had somehow survived, if they had been able to elude the Nesk and live in Earth's orbit until the environment settled down. Would they have just died out eventually anyway? Or would they have eventually developed the technology and resources to venture off-Earth and find another home? Or would humans be banding together with the Mercora to fight off the Yeerks in the distant future?

I'm also interested as to what happened to the Nesk, as despicable as they are. Since it appears they got away unscathed, are they still pillaging galactic villages 65 million years into the future? Did they evolve into any of the alien races we're familiar with today? Or did they reclaim Earth and eventually devolve into the ants we know today? Or did they all die out in some awesome display of karma? I'd have never thought the Animorphs books could spawn so many questions! :) ...more

**spoiler alert** In this book, the Animorphs take a little day trip off planet Earth. The Animorphs are in mosquito-morph, ready to acquire the blood**spoiler alert** In this book, the Animorphs take a little day trip off planet Earth. The Animorphs are in mosquito-morph, ready to acquire the blood/DNA of a senior Secret Service agent, when they're suddenly transported into Zero Space! An Andalite ship picks them up as it passes by, and they learn that the Andalites are on the way to stop the Yeerk invasion of Leeran. Turns out that the destruction of the shark facility didn't put the Yeerks off - instead of taking the stealth approach, they've decided to invade by force.

The Andalites are losing the battle on land, and the Animorphs are soon driven to the water. They morph and reach one of the underwater Leeran cities, where they unite with the commander of the Andalite forces. The commander reveals that losing the land battle had been the plan all along - the Andalites had rigged each continent with explosives, intending to drive the Yeerks together and destroy them. Something has gone wrong with the detonator though, and the Animorphs are tasked with finding its location and setting it off.

But something weird is happening to the Animorphs. They're disappearing into thin air, one by one. And it's happening more rapidly. Soon it's down to Ax alone to detonate the explosives and save Leeran.

---

Yay a book from Ax's perspective! I feel like we learned more about Ax and the Andalites in this one book than we've learned from all the previous books combined. It was great to get another glimpse of Ax amongst fellow Andalites, particularly in regards to his 'aristh' status. The Animorphs all look to Ax as some sort of walking encyclopedia on the universe, but the tables were turned here. Ax was suddenly at the bottom of the chain of command.

And yay for more Leeran! I was fascinated by the structure of their underwater cities. If anybody says 'underwater city' to me, I automatically imagine a Disney castle on the ocean floor, potentially accompanied by some kind of airtight dome. The Leeran city couldn't have been further from that, looking more like an ice cream cone that holds bubble-shaped ant farms. I was also fascinated by their psychic abilities, and how they represented nothing more to the Animorphs than the typical OMGANIMALBRAINFLAIL that they go through when morphing for the first time.

And surprisingly, yay for Zero Space stuff! The details are still fuzzy, but they're not half-arsed like the explanations we've been given before. I'm assuming that the Animorphs morphed something with such a low mass that they were accidentally sucked into zero space. Except a tiiiiny bit of their mass was still stuck on Earth, so the universe was trying to correct itself in snapping them back to the point of origin. As for the time discrepancy, unless the author bothers to explain that further, I'm just going to chalk it up to time moving differently in zero space/Leeran.

But boo for traitors. In The Escape we learned that a Leeran was helping the Yeerks invade his home planet. In this book we learned that the Yeerks were further assisted by none other than Andalites! I'm intrigued as to what made these Leeran and Andalites turn on their kind. They have to have the sense to know that no matter what the Yeerks promise, the Yeerks will likely kill or infest them once they're no longer useful. There's no way the traitorous Leeran or Andalite is just going to be allowed to chill on a throne in the Blade Ship.

What has happened to the Leeran and Andalites to make them hate their species that much? The Andalites sound as if they live in relative peace and order, devoting their lives to the pursuit of knowledge. And while we don't know much about the Leeran, the fact that their planet contains no natural predators means we can assume they do too. While the Yeerks on Earth find volunteers in downtrodden and abused humans, I find it hard to imagine what could make an Andalite or Leeran greenlight the annihilation or enslavement of their entire species. :(

And boo for the unfinished Hewlett Aldershot storyline. The Animorphs better revisit their mission in the next book, otherwise they're screwed! ...more

**spoiler alert** This book should have been titled 'The Oatmeal'. After saving a man from suicide by jumping, the Animorphs learn that the Yeerks are**spoiler alert** This book should have been titled 'The Oatmeal'. After saving a man from suicide by jumping, the Animorphs learn that the Yeerks are deeply addicted to oatmeal. But not just any oatmeal: instant maple and ginger flavoured oatmeal. The oatmeal saves them from needing Kandrona rays every 3 days, and allows them to live as long as their host does. However, it's deeply addictive and drives the Yeerks nuts - allowing the human host to temporarily regain control.

The Animorphs concoct a plan to burrow into the Yeerk pool and fill it with oatmeal. Unfortunately the Yeerks have upped their security since the last break-in, outfitting the cave with biometric sensors and 'hunting' drones. The Animorphs-in-bat-form are injured by the hunting drones, with Rachel falling into the Yeerk pool and Ax, Tobias and Jake captured by the Yeerk forces. By a miracle stroke of luck the Animorphs all manage to escape their captors and regroup, throwing the oatmeal and Visser Three into the Yeerk pool. They narrowly escape once again.

---

First there was victory by skunk butt, and now we have victory by oatmeal! I love it when the author writes a completely ridiculous and hilarious ending to battles with the Yeerks. That's the great thing about these being kids books - the author can take the silliest way out and the readers will still enjoy it. It's not like young adult or adult sci-fi fantasy where we'll just think 'Seriously? This is dumber than that giant squid in Watchmen'.

If you ignore the fact that it's oatmeal, there were actually some interesting repercussions there. The Animorphs could have infected Human Controllers with the oatmeal, which would have driven the Yeerk nuts and rendered them utterly useless. But then the Yeerk would no longer need Kandrona rays, and would live as long as their human host did. So the Animorphs would be condemning a hundred people to insanity for the rest of their natural lives. Not exactly fixing the problem.

But poisoning the Yeerk pool with oatmeal....that's actually genius. You've got Yeerks that are refueling and Yeerks that have not yet found human hosts. The refueling Yeerks would never be able to return to their hosts, and the other Yeerks would never find human hosts in the first place. It's destroying 500 Yeerks with no human casualties!

Things went awry for the Animorphs though, and I can't tell if they managed to inflict much damage there. It seems as if the Visser morphed before his Andalite hooves could soak up the oatmeal, and the one barrel that exploded may have only affected a small portion of the population in the pool. But hey, maybe the effects of the oatmeal are more far-reaching than we think! *crosses fingers that the Visser will go nuts from oatmeal-addiction*

I'm amused and excited to see what other silly twists the author throws our way. :3 ...more

**spoiler alert** In this book, the Animorphs stumble across a chat room devoted to discussing the Yeerk invasion. In an attempt to discover which use**spoiler alert** In this book, the Animorphs stumble across a chat room devoted to discussing the Yeerk invasion. In an attempt to discover which users are Controllers, the Animorphs infiltrate the headquarters of the biggest ISP in the country (well, I'm guessing the only ISP as these are the days of dial-up!)

This leads them to the ISP CEO's mansion, where they learn that the richest man in America is a Controller. But he's a different kind of Controller. His Yeerk is the disgruntled, overlooked twin of Visser Three. This Yeerk formed an agreement with his host, using Yeerk knowledge to take the host from a lowly computer programmer to one of the richest people in the modern world. The Yeerk has cut himself off from the rest of his kind, and has discovered a way to survive without Kandrona rays: by eating other Yeerks.

The Animorphs struggle to decide whether they should kill him or not. On the one hand he's doing them a favour, eliminating 10 Yeerks every month. But on the other hand, he's killing 10 unwitting hosts every month too. In the end the Animorphs let him go, agreeing to ignore his existence if he keeps his activities on the down low. A few days later his mansion suspiciously burns down, forcing him out into the open.

---

These books have aged relatively well since they were first published, but they automatically show their age with any mention of technology. It was funny to see the Animorphs struggling with the days of dial-up internet. I remember how agonisingly long it would take to load a webpage, or download one 3MB music file. Sometimes it feels like an age since we graduated to Broadband, and sometimes it feels like just yesterday!

One of my favourite books in the series in terms of character development is The Secret. In The Secret, Cassie struggles with her idea of right and wrong as it relates to her life as an Animorph. She struggles to reconcile her kind, animal-loving nature with her violent Animorph activities, as well as the knowledge that Mother Nature doesn't show mercy. This book depicts a similar kind of struggle for the Animorphs as a whole.

The Animorphs have trouble deciding whether to kill or spare billionaire Fenestre, because he walks an incredibly blurry line between right and wrong. While he's doing the Animorphs a favour in killing off his Yeerk brothers and sisters, he's also murdering the human hosts in the process. The Animorphs have to decide whether it's worth saving a few nameless and faceless people, or really making a dent in the Yeerk invasion. After much debate, they decide to let Fenestre slide. Certainly not an easy decision to make for a bunch of tweens.

I'm hoping Fenestre will play a larger role in the books to come. I want to see a final showdown at the end of the Yeerk war between the Animorphs, Fenestre and Visser Three. After a long battle, Fenestre would lure out and eat his brother Yeerk, Visser Three. And knowing that his vile race is on the edge of extinction, Fenestre's Yeerk would then willingly go to his slaughter at the hands of the Animorphs. Not sure how Visser One would play into this, but it's certainly an awesome and gruesome scene to contemplate.

Dammit, I want to finish these books and see how it ends already!...more

**spoiler alert** In this book, the Animorphs discover a secret Yeerk facility in the ocean. The facility is being used to create shark controllers fo**spoiler alert** In this book, the Animorphs discover a secret Yeerk facility in the ocean. The facility is being used to create shark controllers for the invasion of a water planet, Leeran. The frog-like species that inhabit the planet (also called Leeran) cannot be infested by the Yeerks, as they possess strong psychic abilities. Therefore, the Yeerks are genetically engineering sharks to serve as aquatic versions of the Hork-Bajir. Shark brains unfortunately don't allow for Yeerk infestation, so they've been modifying shark anatomy accordingly.

This facility is being headed by Visser One, the Yeerk that has infested Marco's ~dead mother. Marco is torn as to whether he should tell the other Animorphs the truth about his dead mother, not wanting his friends to kill the innocent woman who is just acting as the host body. Unfortunately Visser One is swept up in the deluge as the Animorphs destroy the facility, and Marco is unsure if she made it out alive. Thanks to the words of a traitor Leeran, if she did make it out alive, there's the very real possibility that the Yeerks now know that the 'Andalite bandits' are not Andalites at all.

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I feel like the pacing has been off for the past couple of books. In The Unknown, the Animorphs undertook reconnaissance for 95% of the novel and the action was bunched up quickly in the last few pages. It's the same deal here: the Animorphs discover the Yeerk facility, do some reconnaissance and infiltrate it, but the actual battle is over in the blink of an eye within the last 5 pages.

I'd prefer that the book be equally divided into quarters: 1. While going about their daily business, the Animorphs stumble across a new Yeerk facility/mission/whatever2. The Animorphs decide to do reconnaissance on the Yeerk facility/mission/whatever3. The Animorphs interfere with the Yeerk facility/mission/whatever, winning by a stroke of luck4. The Animorphs regroup to discuss the outcome of the Yeerk facility/mission/whatever and what it means for their continued fight against the slugs.

I'm hoping Visser One made it out alive, because I'd like to see Marco reunited with his mother at the end of the Yeerk war. That being said, her being alive can only mean bad things for the Animorphs! Assuming the traitor Leeran didn't die, it's likely that he managed to get it through her skull that the Andalite bandits are actually a ragtag bunch of kids. Fingers crossed that Visser One survived the destruction but the Leeran somehow didn't!

But the repercussions caused by the Leeran don't end there! So far we've been under the impression that the Yeerk invasion has started small, confined to this medium-sized American town. We've believed that the Yeerks don't have the resources or power to do much more than infest school principals and start up small businesses. But in this book we learned that the Yeerks are gearing up to simultaneously invade the planet of Leeran. The Yeerks must have a much larger force and much more resources than we anticipated to pull that off. And who's to say that the Yeerks are only invading Leeran and Earth - it's entirely possible that they're in the midst of invading 5 other planets!

This wasn't the best paced book, but it presents a lot of new challenges for the Animorphs! Excited to see where the next few books take me. ...more